Tayka Hotel de Sal Where:Tahua, Bolivia How much:about $95 a night Why it's cool:You've stayed at hotels made of brick or wood, but salt? That's something few can claim. Tayka Hotel de Sal is made totally of salt--including the beds (though you'll sleep on regular mattresses and blankets). The hotel sits on the Salar de Uyuni, a prehistoric driedup lake that's the world's biggest salt flat. Builders use the salt from the 4,633squaremile flat to make the bricks, and glue them together with a paste of wet salt that hardens when it dries. When rain starts to dissolve the hotel, the owners just mix up more salt paste to strengthen the bricks. Green Magic Nature Resort Where: Vythiri, India How much: about $240 a night Why it's cool: Riding a pulleyoperated  lift 86 feet to your treetop room is just the start of your adventure. As you look out of your open window--there is no glass--you watch monkeys and birds in the rain forest canopy.  Later you might test your fear of heights by crossing the handmade rope bridge to the main part of the hotel. You don't even have to come down for breakfast--the hotel will send it up on the pulleydrawn "elevator". Dog Bark Park Inn B&B Where: Cottonwood, Idaho How much: $92 a night Why it's cool: This doghouse isn't just for the family pet. Sweet Willy is a 30foottall dog with guest rooms in his belly. Climb the wooden stairs beside his hind leg to enter the door in his side. You can relax in the main bedroom, go up a few steps to the loft in Willy's head, or hang out inside his nose. Gamirasu Cave Hotel Where: Ayvali, Turkey How much: between $130 and $475 a night Why it's cool: Experience what it was like 5,000 years ago, when people lived in these mountain caves formed by volcanic ash. But your stay will be much more modern. Bathrooms and electricity provide what you expect from a modern hotel, and the white volcanic ash, called tufa, keeps the rooms cool, about 65degFin summer. It can be inferred that   _  . A) it is the same man who designed the four hotels B) Green Magic Nature Resort is the dearest in India C) the building of Dog Bark Park Inn B&B is like a dog D) Gamirasu Cave Hotel is the oldest among the four ones
C
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As soon as I saw her, I understood I was in trouble. The tiny 10-year-old girl was staring at me with that specific facial expression which probably only dentists have to enjoy all day long! Whatever question I asked, whatever activity I suggested, her reaction was pretty much the same -- she was frozen with horror. She was sent to our private language school after having been the worst in English at her key school with a pretty strict ELT syllabus , with her peers  teasing her for her mistakes in English. Moreover, her state school teacher called her name. To make things worse, she was under pressure from her family for getting bad marks in English. She was definitely expecting me to carry on the same way with her. I have to admit that I had been staring at her with probably the same expression for a while before eventually she handed in an absolutely incredible  composition which I had previously asked the class to write. It was written in perfect handwriting, was full of clever ideas and had correct paragraphing. The girl got her first excellent mark in English, and I praised her generously and from then on I started using her writing skills to support the others. Before doing an oral retelling of a story, she wrote it down. Before presenting her oral project, she was allowed to do the same thing. The day she first put up her hand to orally answer my question addressed to the class I was incredibly  happy. She taught me how to approach withdrawn students -- find the skill which they can excel  at, in her case writing, and help the student use it to develop other skills! The writer is probably a teacher  _  . A) in a language training center B) in a private language school C) in a state school D) in a key public school
B
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More than 15 million Britons, many of them women, will holiday unaccompanied this year. And they will no longer be treated as second-class citizens. After 50 years of being slighted, ripped off, herded together and allocated the worst rooms in the hotel, the single traveller's time has finally come. Rather than being viewed as an awkward peculiarity in the standard couples-and-families "system", single travelers have become travel's fastest growing sector and a phenomenon that tour operators are falling over themselves to catch up with. In one sense, the boom is the result of people postponing marriage and children. Approximately 39% of the adult British population--19 million people--is now single and the proportion of one-person households has increased from 18% in 1971 to 29% last year. The most significant growth of singles over the next few years is expected to be within the well-off, travel-hungry 25-34 age group.  The expansion in single travel is being increased by women. Women are just as happy as men to leave partner at home and head off on holiday. On adventure group trips single women constitute more than half of all travelers, and Internet agents report that 70% of their single clients are women.     Women today see being single as an opportunity to travel, rather than as an obstacle. The result is that travel companies are now attempting to work out new ways of attracting singles----a market worth PS10.4 billion. The number of specialist singles tour operators has risen from a couple to at least 10, but they face a growing challenge from mainstream operators, who now propose to target solo travelers with moves like abolishing single room supplements. At the moment, single travelers usually have to join a group, or pay more. As soon as we get beyond that, the singles market is going to take off to a completely new level. Travel companies are reacting to changing trends by   _  . A) trying to find travel partners for singles B) charging more for one-person room occupancy C) encouraging solo travelers to join groups D) specializing in singles holiday requirements
D
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In the face of rising gas costs, many consumers are beginning to consider the choice of a hybrid vehicle--one which operates on both gas and electricity. All of the models of hybrid car will save money, but are they really effective when all of the costs of maintenance and other considerations are included in? First of all, consider the cost of buying a hybrid vehicle. Depending on the model, hybrid vehicles can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 more than the traditional models. However, some say that as the hybrid cars become increasingly more available as a reflection of demand, the prices can be expected to drop, making them more cost effective when it comes to the initial investment. Also important to keep in mind is the fact that the hybrid cars have a much more specialized system than the standard vehicle, and will therefore require more specialized workers to repair them when they break down. It seems as though, at least for the time being, the purchase of a hybrid vehicle for the average consumer may not be the best choice when it comes to saving money. It is important to keep several things in mind, however, when considering purchasing a hybrid model. Many consumers are choosing to purchase these cars because they represent a significant development in terms of environmental concerns over standard models. They also mean that as a whole, Western nations will become less dependent on oil as the only means of power. Finally, it is necessary to remember that the hybrid car is a very new technology. Developed only within the last few years, the technology is still in the starting stage, where costs will continue to be high. As time passes, the development of the hybrid technology will begin to push prices down to the point where hybrids are more competitive with the traditionally fueled models of the past. What do we know from the passage? A) The hybrid technology is very new and mature as well. B) It's not easy to repair a hybrid car due to its special system. C) Many average consumers can not afford to buy hybrid cars. D) The traditional vehicles are much safer to drive than hybrid cars.

B
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